*PROJECT* - Reaper

[wh03_mad]

Hello everyone,

Some time ago i started a rebuild diary on migweb and allcorsa but i have changed plans and directions with this.

Ok then so where to start ill start with a quick recap of the start of the project, the day i collected the engine.

The engine was a bargain, its got 74,000 est on the clock and i managed to pic it up from £130 ... thank you ebay lmao

I am lead to beleive that this engine is of the late type XE, so instant thouhts was over porus head, however the head has being sent for testing, which it passed and it was then skimmed ready for the rebuild

Here is the engine when i first collected it :






As you can see a fair bit of stuff and i even got some free bits like breaks etc because he did not want them anymore as the car was scrapped.

Part 2 - The strip down

This part has taken me quight a while as i have had no time lately to work on the engine, up till last week and i made a start again. I had managed to get all the engine stripped apart from getting the pulley nut off, this really caused me some problems to i even took the bottom end to a garage and asked them to use there impact wrench to free it but nothing would !! so in the end i had to attack it with the angle grinder anyway here is some pics :


Rocker cover removed, this is being sent off to be stripped and shadow chromed.
















Piston bores all ok, no damage here.

Part 3 - Head cleanup

BEFORE




HALF & HALF


AFTER




The head was then sent off at this point for testing and skimming.

Part 4 - Bottom end time

Ok so by now i had had 4 months away from the project due to being to busy moving home and breaking up with my partner so last week i fired up the project again and started working on it once more.

So here it is after a bolted it to the engine stand and set to work on it, the bottom block was a mess when i got the engine due to the bottom end seals failing and pouring oil all over the show.




Ready to remove sump and begine stripping crank out



First coat of paint on bottom end





Second coat & Fully stripped aside from crank






Sump cleaned up & then sprayed




Crank removed and 100% stripped




Now i began the rebuild process, this is going to be a little slow over the next few weeks as i have alot of bills so cant spare the money for parts, however i have the new big end and shell bearings and i have just ordered all my piston rings, this will allow me to get the bottom end put back together

I started by first cleaning up all the surfaces where gaskets will go, this will ensure a good seal when i finally get to rebuilding it.

Head gasket seating very clean



Bottom end seating all clean



Old shell bearings out !



All clean ready for new bearings to be fitted :



New shell bearings and nice new bit of oil to make sure these are well lubricated before i put them back in otherwise were asking for trouble !



New bearings fitted and well oiled ( you cant see the oil however there is alot on them )



Crank ready to be cleaned and re-fitted to the block



Crank refitted on new bearings, i cant beleive how easy the crank turns now compaired to before i removed it, its a major improvement !



Ok up till dinner time today this is as far as i have got with it. More soon !

[wh03_mad]

Hello everyone,

Right managed to make a little progress today, got all the pistons refitted and new rings etc.

Aso had a wee delivery on friday :-


New bottom end gasket pack, cant realy make progress without this lol anyway i forgot to take pics as i was refitting the pistons etc but i have the finished pics :





The crank is a fair bit stiffer now the pistons are refitted but i am guessing this is due to the new rings etc. It still turns if i put a spanner on the crank and turn without too much bother, ill soon know when i get the head etc back on and try to turn it over if there is any probems, if not then ill try it with starter motor on and see if its turning correctly and do a compression test etc so i can see whats happening.

Thats it for now ill be doing some more work though the week like cleaning up the gearbox and starting to clean other components ready for refitting.
"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2796/444 ... 85343e.jpg"

[wh03_mad]

Hi everyone,

Only a tiny update today, am still waiting on parts atm however this arrived on friday morning for me lmao



Loverley and clean new oil pump, just hope its good enough for what i need haha.

While i am on the subject how the hell do you get the plate off that screws onto where the oil filter attaches im not sure what its called its the part with the two holes in to for your oil cooler :S

Anyway i aint got round to fully fitting it yet and iv got a very busy week at work so there is a chance i aint going to get much more done, might stay a few hours after work though and get a few odd ends tied up anyway :



I love how clean everything looks and then think to myself after 500 miles its going to look like it did before haha, oh well its something to do.

Ayways thats it for now hopefully im due a delivery of my water pump if it ever gets sent.

Chris

[wh03_mad]

01/04/2010 - Big update & Progress

Right ok everyone where to begin.

Well its being a busy week for me this week but i have being putting in a few extra hours after work on a night to work on my engine.

As you know earlier this week i posted up some pics of the new oil pump temp fitted, so lets continue where we left off.

First job was to get the sandwitch plate off the old oil pump and one of the blanking plugs as the new pump was missing it :



I gave it a quick once over just to remove the majority of grim from it then attached to new pump also tightened up the pump fully while i was at it :



Next up i got a little delivery :



My new water pump, but if you look closely you will notice a little bit of dammage to the outer edge of the gear wheel where its being bashed about, so i thought this may cause the belt to jump off, so i got to work and just gently corrected the damage with a pair of pliers to make sure it would not effect the belt.

Anyway i dint waste no time on getting it attached to the block :


( Sorry about grainy pic )



Next i went to a local parts place and picked up some sealent to finnaly get the outer shell bearing fitted as this was holding me back :



Thats much better. After this was done i could finnaly get around to getting everything tightened up to the correct settings and i bought myself a angle guage to get it perfect ( i hope ).

Ok so next step was getting the sump gasket on and fitting the spacer washers into it, also refitted the oil pickup pipe bracket :



now fitment of the baffle plate



And the second sump gasket and washers & pickup pipe :



And last but not least .... the sump that i may have sprayed just a little bit :













I also removed the dipstick breather pipe and threw it in the bin as i have a nice polished one on its way to me in the next few days





Thats as much as i can upload atm because my iphone just went dead in the middle of uploading to flickr ...... stupid battery life

Anyway i got round to ordering some more parts to sooo more to come .....

chris

[wh03_mad]

Hello everyone,

Picked up a car yesterday :








Its a 1.2 16v SXI with sports trim and all the trimmings ( AC, Power Steering, electric windows, sun roof ) etc.

Going to go collect it on thursday this week once its being taxed so i can get it home.

Anyway i shall post up more pics when i get her home, she has one thing wrong and thats a nice scratch in the front bumper but i figure i can sort that out.

Its got 41,000 on the clock and has only done 4000 since july 2007 looking at the MOT certs, its also on a X plate so its one of the very last B's off the line

Anyway i shall be spending the weekend giving her a clean up and then making a start on removing the engine, I am also ordering just about everything else i need to finish my c20xe, so stay tuned as this is going to be quight a quick moving project :thumbs_up:

[wh03_mad]

Hi everyone,

right bit of a update, got a fair few deleiverys over the weekend and there is still more on the way ... also got the car home on friday here is some pics when i got it home :









All that on the steering wheel turned out to be oil and grime, soon as i gave it a wipe its all gone

And here is some of the new engine bits :


Water way pipe ( polished )


Lightweight polished pulley wheel


Timing belt kit


Lightweight Flywheel


Head bolts


Block to head collers


New water pump bolts


Exhaust manifold studs & Cam cap bolts


Flywheel & Clutch bolts

Thats not all the parts i have had deleiverd but not had time to take any more pics, i also have the full conversion kit deleiverd and my silicone hose kits are on the way as there made to order

Should be starting the engine strip on friday and getting the bay all cleaned up ready to make a start on the conversion.

Thats all for now folks
Chris

[wh03_mad]

Ok got a tiny bit of work done on my engine :

First off fitted new block to head locating collars :




Then fitted new gasket :



Head fitted :







New inlet gasket :



New exhaust studs & gasket :



Thats about it for today, i need to go get a head socket to fastern down my bolts and im wating on a timing belt backing plate and a crank pulley wheel to get all that back together .... then i can fit the timing kit and get my cams and lifters back in and start making progress at last.

[wh03_mad]

Hello everyone,

Right another update on this got some new bits deleivered today :




Manifold Big thanks to corsa_power for this ... its spot on mate



Whats in the box ???? nothing really exciting just some more bolts n bits to help finish off getting it back together :


New oil filter :











More to come throughtout today

[wh03_mad]

Hi everyone,

Ok so while i am sat having some lunch i am going to show you my mornings work.

So to start with all timing pulleys fitted :



Next i refitted the thermostat housing with a new seal and a tiny bit of engine sealent to make sure it would not leak again :




Side shot of exhaust side of engine ( note the missing stud for the exhaust ... one of the old ones snapped in there on removal i now have to drill & tap that out :@ )



Next up ... lifter less head ... time to fix that



Clean lifters



8 of 16 lifters refitted :




Other 8 lifters fitted :



All lifters fitted back to there little home :



Ok now onto getting the cams refitted so inlet cam fitting :



Caps on and tight ... plent of assembly lube used here :




Exhaust cam refitted :



Both fitted & tight :





Ok now the cams needed new oil seals behind the sprockets ... soo off with the sprockets :



to revial the old oil seal ( rather worn )




The old :



And the new :



And fitted :



And i did the exact same for the inlet side of the engine :



Ok now that was out of the way and the cams are staying in place it was finnaly time to fit the timing belt :shocked:

This is a real pain to do but it makes it so much easier fitting it on a stand rather than in the engine bay



The engine turnes perfect !!! very smooth and all timed up nicely now

This is a real mile stone all that work so far has now paid off as i know its turning and working as it should.

I then fitted my poilished pulley wheel :



This is as far as i have got up to now but i am doing more work once i have finished muching

[wh03_mad]

Hi everyone,

Grr i am having to retype this whole post as i just did it once and then caught the refresh key and lost it

Ok so first thing i did was get the rest of the odd bits back on the engine, including some electrical sensors and the rest of the cam setup, i also repainted my rocker and timing cover ... this is only temp as i have placed a order for a shadow chrome version.

Also still not received my silicone hose kit but i called roose motorsport yesterday and they should be getting sent out today

Anyway enough jibba jabba onto some pics :






And after 3 hours of cleaning up the rocker cover i managed to get it sprayed :




After 5 mins of nitro mors :









And the final result of my efforts :







I like it but the paint job was only a quick one so the finish is not that good i might just give it a good sanding and spray again if i dont like the chrome cover.

Anyway hopefully this weekend i should be able to get old engine out as i have managed to locate a engine hoist and then get this one dropped in.

I have also started working on the inlet manifold getting that all cleaned up and getting the ignition system setup again.

Anyway thats it for this moment in time.

[wh03_mad]

Ok got time over dinner to do another quick update,

Got the spark plugs and got them fitted and fitted my distriburer and got it all wired back in .... i think i am now ready to fit to the car im just looking through other project logs see what state people fit them and looking for anythign that might be awkward once fitted




Might get a bit more done before i go home but i am taking wireing loom home with me tonight to rewrap it and give it a clean up and repair some of the damage to it so either way more updates tomorrow morning.

[Timmeh]

Wow what a project! Very detailed man good work. Wish i had the money to do something like this but hey good luck with putting the engine in the SXI

[adz01992]

wow you really know what your doing!!!

how much has it all cost you so far ???? not including the car

[watson9003]

is that a blue mgb i see in the background?

[wh03_mad]

Thanks for the comments guys

adz ... i dont even know to be honest iv being rebuilding the engine for over 2 months so not really noticed how much its cost, will work it out if you want and give you a rough idea.

watson ... yes it is a mgb gt ... it was my first ever tinker with cars and it wasa wreck when i got it ... i got it while i was still at school as really liked them ... and its being restored back to former glory including a engine rebore and a full cream leather retrim for the interiour and a full body respray. Apart from that its all original even the chrome bumbers and wire wheels.